1. Field of the Invention
Some embodiments of the present invention relates to methods and systems for gathering and processing medical data to support rating decisions in the adjudication of insurance and disability requests.
2. Description of the Related Art
Government agencies and insurance companies have developed rules for the adjudication of insurance or disability requests. Examples of insurance or disability programs include the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) program, the Social Security Disability Insurance program, the Workers' Compensation program, various property and casualty insurance programs, and so forth.
In order to adjudicate a request made by a claimant, certain medical evidence is required. Medical evidence requirements refers to requirements of information about a claimant that is relevant to the medical conditions claimed by the claimant, such as the age and gender of the claimant, physical examination data, laboratory test data and medical history data pertinent to the claims, and so forth. The requirements are specified by rules developed by the government agency or by the insurance company, pertinent case law, government regulations, legislation and administrative decisions, and so forth. For example, the requirements may specify that if a claimant claims a certain medical condition, a medical provider must conduct certain physical examinations and laboratory tests on the claimant or ask certain questions. The requirements may also specify, for example, that a claimant must have a range of motions less than a certain degree to claim a limb disability. Requirements can also be specified by conventional medical knowledge, for example requiring a certain test to confirm a particular claimed condition.
The rating rules are normally documented in manuals that may have many different titles, herein referred to as “rating books.” A rating code refers to a classification used by the government agency or insurance company that typically refers to a medical condition or a class of medical conditions in a rating book. The collection of rating rules, rating codes, pertinent legislation and case law for an insurance or disability program is herein referred to as the “rules collection” for that program. The rating rules may include rules on how to make a rating decision based on the collected medical evidence and the rating codes. For example, in a VA disability program, the rules collection typically specifies a disability percentage range based on rating codes and collected medical evidence. A VA rating personnel reviews the rating codes and medical evidence, and specifies a disability percentage within the range.
In a disability or insurance request process, the claimant typically visits a hospital, clinic or medical office. A medical provider such as a physician or a nurse collects medical evidence from the claimant to support a rating decision. The rating decision is typically made by the government agency or the insurance company based on the medical evidence collected by the medical provider and based on the rules collection. The medical providers are typically provided with documents generally referred to as “physician's disability evaluation” or “medical examination handbooks” to assist them with collecting medical evidence. The handbooks are herein referred to as “medical handbooks.” The medical handbooks typically contain the medical evidence requirements for the rules collection.
In many cases, a claimant makes claims for multiple medical conditions at different points in time. The conventional practice is to review a medical evidence document each time a condition is claimed. This results in significant duplication of effort as the analysis of portions of the medical evidence document might be conducted multiple times.
To better illustrate the drawbacks of conventional practices and the need for better systems, the VA Compensation and Pension (C&P) program is described as an example. This government program provides payments of benefits to military veterans for medical disability resulting from their military service. Multiple paper records form the basis for the analysis and adjudication of C&P claims for veterans and transitioning active duty service member. In certain cases, sixty percent of all claims are reopened claims and require the paper record to be completely re-reviewed.